Police release identity of Balto. Co. worker who died Monday

Baltimore County officials on Wednesday released the identity of a county worker who died after emergency responders were called to a former county golf course earlier this week, and crash investigators are probing what happened to him as he was plowing snow.

Philip Wayne Higgins, 57, of the 4400 block of Declaration Circle in Belcamp, was found Monday, 10 to 20 feet from his county truck at the former Gunpowder Falls Golf Course in Kingsville, police said. He worked for the Property Management Division, which maintains county properties.

The medical examiner has ruled the death as accidental, and that Higgins died of multiple injuries, according to police.

The police department's crash team began an investigation because it appeared Higgins' injuries "were consistent with a vehicular accident," said Elise Armacost, county public safety spokeswoman. She would not elaborate, but police said the inquiry is continuing.

Higgins had worked for the county for more than 30 years, police said. He had been plowing snow by himself at the site, and a bystander found him in a parking lot and called 911, police said. Medical crews from the fire department arrived shortly after 11:30 a.m., finding him in cardiac arrest. They were unable to revive him. Police said Higgins was taken to Franklin Square Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

A Baltimore County worker employed with the Property Management Division died after emergency personnel responded to a former golf course in Kingsville where he was working Monday, but officials released few details about the death.

A 31-year-old man who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Baltimore after he pleaded guilty to possessing 5.9 grams of marijuana won an appeal Wednesday invalidating the plea — raising the possibility that he will be released.